Day 3 of Hospital stay

Day 3, Wed Dec 21, 2011

Dad and I got here around 8:30am.  Mom was awake but not really talking.  Kind of the same way she was last night after they gave her the steroid.  They give her the steroid at 8am & 8pm every day.  She is having a hard time talking and is trying to stay awake but keeps falling asleep.  Her heart rate this morning has ranged from 44-49, but everything else seems fine.  She could answer a couple of questions but not all of them.  Her sodium levels this morning are 133, so they will stop the nose sprays now until they get her back up.  The nurse just told us that when she was down getting her CT scan last night that she threw up and almost flat lined.  We talked to the doctors this morning and told them our concerns about the steroid wiping her out and they decided to change her dose from getting 20 milligrams in the morning and night intravenously to taking a 40 milligram orally.  They said that the CT scan showed  a lot of swelling in her brain and no reduction in air.  They came in this morning and gave her an x-ray of her stomach to see why she hasn't had a bowel movement.  They are going to give her a medicine, mirolax, to help her go to the bathroom.  She seemed interested in eating breakfast but after they moved her around for the x-ray she didn't want to eat.  She's sleeping, or fake sleeping now.  We are hoping that she will get better this afternoon.  We'll see.  Sometimes I wonder when we ask her questions that she is answering in her head but nothing comes out.  We are reading her eyes again and talking for her more today.  Yesterday she would talk for herself more.  Still slow, but she would answer quicker then now.  After you ask her a question right now if she has to think too much she closes her eyes for awhile.  Hopefully she will wake up more later.


They came in today around noon to give her a bath and wash her hair.  She has been sleeping all morning waking up on and off.  Dad and I left to get lunch while they bathed her when we got back around 1pm Karen was here and they were starting her on her walk.  As we walked with her they told us that as they laid her down to bath her she threw up again and her heart rate dropped to the 20's again.  Her food had come so we got her back into bed and tried feeding her some.  Karen fed her and Mary came so my Dad headed home to get stuff done.  She didn't eat much but was able to take her pills.  They gave her one for nausea and then her steroids.  They said that they didn't give her the steroid this morning but just gave it to her orally.  She has been sleeping since.  It's about 3 and she is sleeping, never ate much.  Definitely a step backwards today.   

She woke up more this afternoon.  We got her to take her laxative and eat some more.  She ate 2 of the Italian ice things, which she really likes and Karen got her a ginger ale to help with her naususness.  Dr. Reichman came in this evening and talked to us, he said that they will wait another day and take another CT scan tonight and see if there is any improvement.  If not then they will make a decision if she needs to have surgery to remove the air for Friday.  We would just need to decide if they want to do a temporary shunt or a permanent shunt.  Temporary would be on the top of her head and permanent would be in the back of her head.  Mom's concern is the shaving of her head, but we talked to a hairstylist and talked about putting hair extensions in to cover it up, so she is feeling a little better about it, but still doesn't want to do the surgery.  But if her body doesn't absorb the air then they will have to.  Karen left around 5pm and Jessie and Steve came for a bit.  Then Dad came back around 6:30pm and Mom was awake from around 4- 6:30ish.  We were hoping to get Mom up to walk her around, but they were doing a shift change so they couldn't.  Mom has fallen asleep now, but hopefully they will wake her up to get her walking around.  They also want her to be able to have a bowel movement and we hope that walking around would help with that. 

She took her walk around 8pm, we had to wake her up to go, but she walked all the way around.  She was a little confused on what year it was when they were asking her the year, she kept saying her birth year, but later was able to give the right year.  After her walk she got her anti-nausea medicine, her blood drawn and then she was able to eat.  She had her italian ice, some chocolate shake, some peach yogart & some chocolate pudding.  She is still awake and talking and Dad and I are going to leave for the night so we can get here early to hopefully catch Dr. Reichman.